With 10 seconds left in the second overtime, senior Nate Hilbert got the ball from a ball boy for a corner kick, placed it down lightning quick, got off a great pass in front of the goal to teammate Shane Jardine who finished with a header for the decisive goal in a 3-2 win over Northern Burlington County.

“I saw the ball coming in with like two or three seconds left and saw the opportunity and had to give it my all to get my head on it,” the sophomore said. “Nate gave me a great pass on that play; it’s something we practice a lot. We practice corner kicks a lot, and Nate and I work real well together on them. Usually that would have been Cameron (Ciarocca) taking that corner kick on that side, but there wasn’t enough time left, so Nate went ahead and took it, and I’m really glad he did.”

Hilbert sent the game into overtime when he took another corner kick with 41.4 seconds left in regulation and got his right foot under the ball and bent it right into the corner of the goal.

“This year I don’t take kicks from that side, but I was close when the ball went out and ran over there as fast as I could to try and get the kick off,” the senior said. “I saw there was only 10 seconds on the clock, so I had to run over there and hit it quickly.

“That was the most exciting game I’ve played in in my four years of playing high school here. And on that last play, I looked up real quick and needed to find (Jardine) quickly, because he’s our best guy in the air. I just looked up right away and hit it and got it to him.”

Goalie Kyle Quigley played a solid game for NBC, stopping three point-blank shots with five minutes left in the second overtime. He also made two great saves late in regulation.

“That was a great play by them at the end,” said NBC head coach Justin Faust who was making his varsity debut as head coach. “We knew coming in we couldn’t give up close free kicks and corners to this team, because they’ve always been monsters in the box, and they find a way to do it.

“We’ve got a lot of kids coming in tonight, playing new positions, because we had a great turnover, and honestly I think not a lot of these guys have been in a situation like this before. You know, it’s a good learning experience for them. I think starting here at Bordentown at night is like throwing your kids right in the fire. Honestly though, I’m very, very proud of them how they stepped up to the moment; (they) just didn’t finish the game, and sometimes that happens.”

Added Bordentown head coach Mike Brennan, “This win was outstanding. But before I even comment on that play, we have a middle school ball boy who happened to be in the right spot at the right time and put the ball down for us, or we might not have gotten off that corner kick.

“If we had to chase that ball around for a few seconds, that play doesn’t happen. I believe it was Sean O’Leary who was Johnny On The spot for us. Nate doesn’t usually take that kick but was aware of the situation and made a smart senior play, and it worked out for us. He’s been steady for us for four years, and his experience really showed for us tonight.”